Systems, methods and computer readable medium for wireless solicitations

ABSTRACT

Product offering systems are provided. Product offering systems may include sending an offer to a customer that possesses a mobile computing device and has agreed to receive offers for products via the mobile computing device. Agreeing to receive offers would result in the unique data about the customer being available to offer provider. Unique customer data may include data related to the customers wireless service provider or from a financial account in a financial institution, and collecting customer data about the customer, wherein the customer data comprises financial data and personal data. Product offering systems may further include registering a wireless computing device of the customer to able the device to receive the offer, and determining opportunities to send the offer to the customer by monitoring the customer and the customer data. Product offering systems may also include sending the offer to the customer&#39;s registered device based on the determination of opportunities.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to presenting offers to afinancial customer, and more particularly to presenting offers that arebased on the status of the customer's financial account via a wirelesscomputing device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Credit card products have become so universally well known andubiquitous that they have fundamentally changed the manner in whichfinancial transactions and dealings are viewed and conducted in societytoday. Credit card products are most commonly represented by plasticcard-like members that are offered and provided to consumers throughcredit card issuers (such as banks and other financial institutions).With a credit card, an authorized consumer is capable of purchasingservices and/or merchandise without an immediate, direct exchange ofcash. Instead, the customer incurs debt with each purchase. Thereafter,the customer repays the debt upon receipt of a periodic statement fromthe issuer. When using the credit card to make a purchase, thetransaction is processed via a credit card clearinghouse orauthorization system, such as the Visa or MasterCard networks.

In addition to credit cards, there are other financial account cardsthat function like credit cards, but that are associated with a bankaccount, like a checking account. Such cards are sometimes called checkcards. Like credit card purchases, transactions made by using checkcards are cleared through a credit card clearinghouse. Debit cards areanother type of financial account cards. Debit cards are also ordinarilyassociated with a bank account of some type. A common type of debit cardis the automated teller machine (“ATM”) type card. There are also othertypes of payment cards, such as stored value cards, smart cards, securedcards, where a customer may pay a security deposit before being giventhe ability to leverage the credit product, and prepaid credit products,where a credit balance is created via pre-payment and then utilized aspoint of sale locations.

Credit card issuers and other payment system operators collect a largeamount of customer data, some of which is obtained from customersdirectly. To apply for a credit card, for example, an applicanttypically must supply demographic data (e.g. age or city of residence),financial data (e.g., monthly expenses, income, or bank accountbalance), and employment data (e.g., salary or length of employment). Todetermine whether to issue a card to the applicant, an issuer may alsocontact a credit reporting agency to obtain the applicant's credithistory.

Payment system operators also collect a great deal of data through thecourse of a purchase transaction. For example, when a customer makes apurchase, a payment system operator (which may also be the credit cardissuer), obtains data about where the purchase was made (e.g., the storename and location), the purchase price, and potentially the item oritems purchased. The data collected by the payment system operator isthen used to generate billing statements and collect payment fromcustomers.

To date, however, the customer and transaction data collected by thefinancial account issuer has not been used effectively to provide offersfor additional products and services to the customer to encourage thecustomer to use the account more often. Furthermore, while previousissuer systems may have offered different products and services to acustomer, these systems had many deficiencies. First, these offerstypically came through standard mail in the form of a coupon oradvertisement from the financial account issuer. Customers often discardsuch mailings because they are usually not timely (e.g., when thecustomer was actually shopping). Second, these offers are not tied toany customer data or purchase transaction data collected by thefinancial account issuer. The offers are thus generic to everyone, andnot specific to the customer. Additionally, due to the latency betweenthe time the offer is made and when the customer receives the offer, thecustomer's account status and/or needs may have changed. By the time thecustomer receives the offer, the customer may have exceeded the creditlimit and may no longer be eligible for that offer. Therefore, financialservices companies are limited in the products they offer due to the lagassociated with delivering offers through standard postal mail. There isthus a need for systems and methods to provide offers for products andservices based on previously collected customer data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Consistent with the present invention, product offering systems areprovided. In one embodiment, a method of sending an offer to a customerof a financial account in a financial institution comprises receivinginformation identifying a wireless computing device of the customer,monitoring the location of the customer based on the identified wirelesscomputing device of the customer, monitoring a status of the financialaccount of the customer, determining whether to send the offer to thecustomer based on the monitored location and account status of thecustomer, and sending the offer to the customer via the customer'swireless computing device based on a determination to send the offer.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained bymeans of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general summary and thefollowing detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only andare not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. Further featuresand/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein.For example, the present invention may be directed to variouscombinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/orcombinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosedbelow in the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a product offeringsystem, consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates an exemplary issuer system, consistent with thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for providingoffers to a customer, consistent with the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determiningan opportunity to make a customer offer, consistent with the presentinvention;

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating a second exemplary process fordetermining an opportunity to make a customer offer, consistent with thepresent invention;

FIG. 3C is a flowchart illustrating a third exemplary process fordetermining an opportunity to make a customer offer, consistent with thepresent invention; and

FIG. 3D is a flowchart illustrating a fourth exemplary process fordetermining an opportunity to make a customer offer, consistent with thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be usedthroughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. While thedescription includes exemplary embodiments, other embodiments arepossible, and changes may be made to the embodiments described withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. The followingdetailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope ofthe invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention maysend offers to customers wirelessly via a wireless computing device. Asused herein, the term “offer” can be for either a product or a service.The system may, for example, determine a customer's location, such aswhether the customer is at or near a merchant location or the locationof a competitor of that merchant. Based on the determination of thecustomer's location, as well as the status of the customer's account,systems consistent with the invention may determine to send to thecustomer an offer related to making a purchase at the merchant location.

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a product offeringsystem 100 consistent with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1A,system 100 may include, for example, a merchant 120, an authorizationsystem 130, one or more issuer systems 140, and one or more wirelesscomputing devices 150, each communicating with a network 110. Merchant120 may be connected via network 110 to authorization system 130. Issuersystems 140-a and 140-b may also be connected to merchant 120 andauthorization system 130 via network 110. Although two exemplary issuersystems are shown in FIG. 1A, system 100 may have one or more issuersystems.

Network 110 may comprise any type of computer networking arrangementused to exchange data. For example, network 110 may be the Internet, aprivate data network, or a virtual private network using a publicnetwork such as the Internet. Network 110 may also include a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) and/or a wireless network. Merchant120 may represent any number of merchants that provide goods or servicesin exchange for payment via a particular payment system. While thepresent invention may be particularly applicable to a traditionalbrick-and-mortar retail merchant, merchant 120 may be any type ofmerchant, such as an online retail merchant. Each merchant 120 maycommunicate directly or indirectly with authorization system 130 inorder to initiate the process of obtaining payment. Authorization system130 may, for example, include the Visa or Master Card networks and/orany other clearinghouse for approval of purchase transactions. One ormore wireless computing devices 150-a and 150-b may also be connected tonetwork 110. Wireless computing devices 150-a and 150-b may be any dataprocessing or communication device, such as a cellular phone, textmessaging device, an instant messaging device, a video messaging device,an audio messaging device, a wireless access device, a wearablecomputer, a tablet computer, a pager, and/or a personal digitalassistant. Further, while FIG. 1A shows one network 110 connectingcomponents 120 to 150, system 100 may include multiple types ofnetworks. For example, wireless computing devices 150 may be connectedto a wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network, whilemerchant 120 may be connected to the PSTN or the Internet.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary issuer system 140,consistent with the present invention. Issuer system 140 may be anygeneral-purpose computing system, such as a mainframe computer, amulti-processor UNIX system, or a powerful PC server system. In anycase, such a system may have at least one input device, such as an inputdevice 160. Possible input devices include network interfaces,keyboards, mice, speech recognition devices, or document, video, orimage input devices. Additionally, issuer system 140 may have at leastone output device 162, such as for example, display devices, networkinterfaces, printers, or sound or speech output devices.

As illustrated in FIG. 1B, issuer system 140 may also include at leastone central processing unit (“CPU”) 164. CPU 164 may execute softwareprograms for implementing the processes described below with respect toFIGS. 2-3D. One skilled in the art will appreciate that while FIG. 1Bshows one CPU, multiple CPUs may be used to execute the aforementionedsoftware programs. These software programs may reside in memory 170 ofissuer system 140.

Memory 170 may include database tables 180 comprising customer accountrecords and merchant records, and software 182 for manipulating therecords of database tables 180. Customer records in database tables 180may include data obtained from several different sources. For instance,customer records in database tables 180 may include account data andlocation data. An issuer may obtain account data during, for example,the account application process. Such account data may include, forexample, the customer's name, billing address, telephone number, and/orSocial Security number, and other relevant data of the customer. Accountdata may also include data from credit bureaus and credit agenciesregarding other financial accounts a customer holds, a customer's creditrating, credit history, and may further include a customer's list ofassets, liability credit ratings, employment history, insurance history,and medical history. Account data may also include data associated withany purchase transactions between the customer and a merchant 120.

The customer records in database tables 180 may further include locationdata about the customer, such as postal code data, zip code data (Zip+4,Zip+2 and other similar data), address data, GPS data,longitude/latitude data, and other global positioning data that might beuseful in determining the location of a customer. This information maybe continuously updated or monitored based upon location data receivedvia a customer's wireless device 150.

The merchant records in database tables 180 may include data about amerchant 120 obtained from several different sources. Such merchant datamay include, for example, the merchant name, merchant type, and otherrelevant data about the merchant. Merchant records stored in databasetables 180 may also include a list of competitors for each merchant.Merchant records may also include geographic data about the merchant andeach competitor, such as the merchant postal code data, zip code data,address data, GPS data, longitude/latitude data, and other globalpositioning data that a location determination service may find usefulin determining the location of a merchant or the competitor.

In one embodiment, software 182 may interact with various modules(described below) stored in memory 170 to process records stored indatabase tables 180. Thus, for example, software 182 may be relationaldatabase software which may interface with any software module orprogram that may query, or sort the customer records stored in databasetables 180. One skilled in the art will appreciate that any objectoriented techniques or other computational techniques may also be usedconsistent with the present invention to manipulate records stored indatabase tables 180. Indeed, based on object oriented techniques,records stored in database tables 180 may be represented as objects andmay not be stored as part of any table. In other words, database tables180 and software 182 are merely exemplary, and records, or equivalentsthereof, may be processed using other known computing techniques andarrangements.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the data of database tables180 and the processes implemented by software 182 may be combined ordistributed in any manner consistent with the present invention. Indeed,database tables 180 and database software 182 may be stored in anycombination of memories, such as those located in a distributedcomputing network, and thus need not be located on the same computersystem.

Memory 170 may further include a location module 172, a device module174, a monitoring module 176, and a solicitation module 178. Thesemodules when executed by CPU 164 for example, provide the functionalityassociated with the flow charts of FIGS. 2 to 3D, discussed in greaterdetail below. Each of these modules may be implemented in software,firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. Further, although FIG.1B shows four different modules, the modules may be combined in anyfashion and may be located on the same system or implemented across adistributed computing system.

In one embodiment described below, issuer system 140 may use locationmodule 172 to determine a location of a particular wireless computingdevice 150 or a customer's financial account card (not pictured) byusing different location based services, such as Global Position Systems(GPS), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Infrared (IR), Bluetooth,Zig Beg, and/or Triangulation. Each of these services may require thecustomer to configure the wireless computing device 150 for the service,or the merchant to configure the merchant location for the service. Forexample, a customer may need to imbed a Bluetooth chip into thecustomer's wireless computing device 150 for location module 172 todetermine the location of the wireless computing device 150. In anotherexample, if a customer's financial account card or wireless computingdevice 150 has an embedded RFID chip, scanners within a merchantlocation may require an RFID detector to detect the RFID chip beforelocation module 172 can locate device 150 or the customer's accountcard. In a further example, when device 150 is a cellular telephone,location module 172 may use a cellular telephone network to determinethe location of device 150. In yet another example, location module 172may use GPS technology and the known latitude and longitude of merchantlocations to determine if a customer is close enough to a merchantlocation to trigger an opportunity for an offer, as will be described ingreater detail with regard to FIGS. 3A-3D. One skilled in the art wouldappreciate that location module 172 may use other location basedservices, and the present invention is not limited to using the onesspecified above.

Location module 172 may, alone or in combination with the othersoftware, determine a location of a particular wireless computing deviceor a location of a customer. Device module 174 may, alone or incombination with the other software, register one or more wirelesscomputing devices for a customer. Monitoring module 176 may, alone or incombination with the other software, monitor a customer's account and/ora customer's location. Solicitation module 178 may, alone or incombination with the other software, send an offer for a product or aservice to a customer's wireless computing device. Module 178 may sendthe offer in many different forms as will be described in detail belowwith respect to FIGS. 2-3D.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that illustrates an exemplary method forproviding offers to a customer, consistent with the present invention.As shown in FIG. 2, a product offering system 100 consistent with thepresent invention may first send a customer, for example a credit cardcustomer, an offer to enroll in a product offering service, throughwhich the customer may receive wireless offers for products and servicesbased on the customer's location and/or financial account status (stage210). Although the embodiments described below are with respect to acredit card account, one skilled in the art would appreciate that anyfinancial account may be used, such as, for example, a checking accountor savings account. One skilled in the art would also appreciate thatany financial account card may be used, such as, for example, a debitcard or a bank card associated with any financial account.

The enrolled customer may then receive offers for products and serviceswirelessly via the customer's wireless computing device 150. Examples ofthese offers may include, but are not limited to: an offer to buy afinancial product, various credit offerings based on different financialaccounts, insurance offerings, lending and loan products, financial andbrokerage services, banking and banking related products, revolvingcredit products, secured debt products, sales discounts, and annuities.A person skilled in the art would appreciate that the list of offers forproducts and services is not limited to the ones mentioned above, andother offers whether the offers are based on a customer's financialaccount or based on other products and services, are available. Offersmay also come in many different forms. For example, an offer may come inthe form of a digital coupon for a sales discount, an email, a textmessage, a voice mail, or a phone call.

If the customer enrolls with system 100, the customer may then registerone or more wireless computing devices 150 a-150 b with system 100(stage 220). In this regard, device module 174 may, alone or incombination with other software, register one or more wireless computingdevices for each customer record in database tables 180. Issuer system140 may store data about the customer's wireless computing device 150 inthe customer's record in database tables 180 for subsequent use whencontacting the customer. For example, if the customer registers acellular phone, issuer system 140 may store the cellular phone number ofthe customer in the customer record in database tables 180.

Further, while the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2 illustrates anenrollment stage, systems consistent with the present invention may notrequire the customer to enroll with system 100. In such cases, system100 may register a customer's wireless computing device 150 withoutrequiring the customer to actively register the device as part of stage220. For instance, system 100 may obtain information about a customer'swireless device 150 from a third party, such as a cellular phone serviceprovider.

In any event, once any wireless computing devices 150 a-150 b areregistered with issuer system 140, monitoring module 176 may monitor thecustomer's account and/or the customer's location (stage 230). Forexample, monitoring module 176 may monitor the transaction activity,credit limit, credit rating, account status history and/or accountstatus type of a customer. Monitoring module 176 may use any suitablesoftware/hardware or computational device to asses the customer recordsto monitor the various aspects of a customer's account. For example,monitoring module 176 may monitor the customer's account by using an SQLquery on each of the created customer records based on whether aparticular customer is within a predetermined amount of his or hercredit limit.

Monitoring module 176 may also monitor a customer's location. Monitoringmodule 176 may monitor the customer's location by using location module172 to determine the location of the registered wireless computingdevice 150. For example, location module 172 may use GPS technology tolocate a customer's cellular phone and module 172 may use known GPSinformation about merchants to determine the customer is driving by acar dealership. Monitoring module 176 may thus monitor the locationinformation from module 172 for use to determine whether a customer'slocation meets predetermined criteria, described in greater detailbelow, for generating an offer.

In another embodiment, a customer may notify issuer system 140 when heor she is at a merchant location using the wireless computing device150. For example, if a customer enters a home improvement store, thecustomer may notify issuer system 140 of his or her location by sendingan email to issuer system 140 using a personal digital assistant. In yetanother embodiment, monitoring module 176 may monitor account activityof a customer to determine the location of the customer. For example, ifa customer's account activity reflects the customer has shopped at aspecific merchant twice in one day, module 176 may determine thecustomer is still near that specific merchant.

Based on the monitoring stage (230), issuer system 140 may determinedifferent opportunities to make offers for various products and servicesto a customer (stage 240). FIGS. 3A-3D, described below, illustrateexemplary solicitation opportunities in detail. System 140 (e.g.,monitoring module 176 and/or solicitation module 178) may use variousstatistical modeling tools for monitoring and/or predicting customerbehaviors and for determining the different opportunities for makingoffers. Such modeling tools, such as those offered by Unica andProtaganna, are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. System140 may use these tools to facilitate the simulation and analysis of theexpected outcomes of various models that system 140 may use to eithermitigate risk and/or maximize profit potential. System 140 may use rawdata (e.g. potential or existing customer names, account information,etc.) through the models (which have predetermined segmentation pointsbased on risk/profit profiles) to create target populations or salesopportunities. Once target populations are identified, the modelingtools may establish triggers to initiate the product offering. Triggersmay include: predetermined locations, predetermined credit limits,dates, rewards activities, previous customer behavior, forecastedcustomer behavior, and significant life events (birthdays). As noteabove, exemplary implementations of how system 100 may determine anopportunity to make an offer to a customer are described in greaterdetail below with respect to FIGS. 3A-3D.

Once issuer system 140 determines one or more opportunities for acustomer, solicitation module 178 may, alone or in combination withother software, send the customer a unique offer via the customer'swireless computing device 150 a registered earlier in stage 220 (stage250). This offer may be in any of several forms. For example,solicitation module 178 may send the offer for a product as a textmessage to the customer's registered cellular phone or personal digitalassistant.

Solicitation module 178 may, alone or in combination with othersoftware, utilize various services to send the offer to the customerthrough his wireless computing device 150. Solicitation module 178 maytransmit an offer using, for example, one or more of the following:Short Message Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), JAVAand Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) offered by Sun, BREW servicesoffered through Qualcomm, Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS), MultimediaMessage Service (MMS), or HTTP. Each of these various services mayrequire the customer to configure the wireless computing device 150 forthe service. For example, a customer may need to first configure acellular phone to allow receipt of text messages.

Each of these various services may also require a participating merchantto configure the merchant for the service. For example, a merchant mayneed to be equipped for detection of IR, Bluetooth or other types ofwireless communications, or may need RFID detectors to detect acustomer's credit card that may have an imbedded RFID chip.

Solicitation module 178 may also send the offer to a cellular phone inthe form of a voice mail. Module 178 may also send an email to acustomer's email account, or send a text message to the customer'scellular phone or personal digital assistant. One skilled in the artwould appreciate that solicitation module 178 may use other services tosend offers to customers via each customer's wireless computing device150, and the present invention is not limited to the examples listed.

Once a customer receives the one or more offers sent by solicitationmodule 178, the customer may accept the offer (stage 260). A customermay accept the offer in a number of ways. A customer may, for example,reply to a text message sent to the customer's wireless computing device150 indicating acceptance of the offer, or a customer may indicateacceptance by downloading the offer to wireless computing device 150when the offer is a digital coupon. A customer may also accept the offerby contacting issuer system 140 by telephone or email. A customer mayalso accept the offer by simply using the offer with a merchant.Depending on the type of offer sent and whether the customer accepts theoffer, as will be described in greater detail with respect to FIGS.3A-3D, issuer system 140 may update the customer account data of thecustomer (stage 270).

FIG. 3A is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determiningan opportunity to make a customer offer, as described above with respectto stages 230-270 of FIG. 2, consistent with the present invention.Location module 172, alone or in combination with monitoring module 176,may first determine whether a customer is at or near a merchant location(stage 310). Location module 172 may, alone or in combination with othersoftware, use any one of the location based services described above todetermine the location of the customer. For example, location module 172may determine that a customer is at a particular merchant locationbecause an RFID sensor in the merchant location detected an RFID chipembedded in a customer's credit card or cellular phone.

Once location module 172 has detected the presence of a customer at ornear a merchant location, monitoring module 176 may then determine if acustomer is at or near a credit limit for a particular credit cardaccount (stage 312). Monitoring module 176 may, alone or in combinationwith other software, monitor the credit limit of a customer to determineif the customer is eligible for a credit limit increase. Monitoringmodule 176 may also monitor other customer account attributes, forexample, the credit rating of the customer in determining whether thecustomer is eligible for a credit limit increase. Depending on themonitoring of the account attributes, issuer system 140 may offer thecustomer a credit limit increase contingent upon the customer making apurchase at the merchant (stage 314). Solicitation module 178 may sendthe customer the offer for the credit limit increase by sending theterms and conditions to the customer's personal digital assistant.Solicitation module 178 may send the offer to the customer in any one ofthe methods described above with respect to FIG. 2. Once the customermeets the purchase requirements described in the offer, issuer system140 may then increase the customer's credit limit (stage 318). Issuersystem 140 may then charge the customer's account for the purchase(stage 319).

As an example, location module 172 may determine a customer is within apredetermined distance, e.g., fifty feet, of an electronics store. Basedon this determination, monitoring module 176 may then initiate a look upprocedure in the customer records in database 180 for the customer'sexisting credit limit, credit rating, risk, and/or information about themerchant to determine whether the customer is qualified for a creditlimit increase. Issuer system 140 may then offer the customer a creditlimit increase contingent upon the customer making any purchase at theelectronics store. Issuer system 140 may put various conditions on thepurchase, for example, a minimum purchase amount. Solicitation module178 may then send the customer this offer via the customer's personaldigital assistant. The customer may then accept the offer by making thepurchase described in the offer sent by solicitation module 178. Issuersystem 140 may then update the credit limit of the customer in thecustomer records stored in database tables 180, and may also charge thecustomer's account for the purchase. Such an exemplary embodiment isadvantageous to the customer since it allows the customer to make apurchase at the merchant, which the customer could not otherwise makewithout the credit limit increase.

Further, while FIG. 3A illustrates that the credit limit increase isperformed after making the purchase, system 100 may increase the creditlimit before the customer makes the purchase or as part of the purchasetransaction.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating a second exemplary process fordetermining an opportunity to make a customer offer, as described abovewith respect to stages 230-270 of FIG. 2, consistent with the presentinvention. Location module 172 may first determine whether a customer isat or near a merchant location or a competitor's location (stage 320).As described above, location module 172 and/or monitor module 176 may,alone or in combination with other software, monitor the customerthrough any one of the location based services described above todetermine the location of the customer. Once system 140 has detected thepresence of a customer at or near a merchant location, monitoring module176 may determine whether to send the customer a merchant coupon basedon a specific shopping pattern of the customer at the merchant or acompetitor (stage 322).

For instance, monitoring module 176 may determine a customer typicallyshops at a particular merchant once a week. In such a case, module 176may determine that a pattern exists in the customer's shopping habits.Module 176 may subsequently determine an inconsistency in this shoppingpattern, such as, for example, that a period of time has passed withoutthe customer making any purchases at the particular merchant. Issuersystem 140 may then offer the customer a coupon as an incentive topurchase at the particular merchant (stage 324). For example, ifmonitoring module 176 determines that a customer shops at a particularelectronics merchant once a week, and the customer in the past two weekshas not bought anything at the merchant, issuer system 140 may determineto send the customer a coupon for that merchant. Solicitation module 178may send the offer to the customer in any one of the methods describedabove with respect to FIG. 2. This coupon may be in a form of a digitalcoupon and may be sent to the customer's personal computing device 150.

In another example, monitoring module 176 may determine a customer shopsat a particular merchant twice a week. In such a case, if locationmodule 172 detects the customer is near a competitor, issuer system 140may then offer the customer a coupon to purchase at the particularmerchant as an incentive to purchase at the particular merchant and notthe competitor.

The customer may accept the offer (stage 326) by using the offer, inthis case, the digital coupon (stage 328). Those skilled in the artwould appreciate that issuer system 140 may make the offer in differentforms, and that the offer is not limited to a digital coupon. Issuersystem 140 may then charge the customer account for the total amount ofthe purchase (stage 329).

FIG. 3C is a flowchart illustrating a third exemplary process fordetermining an opportunity to make a customer offer, as described abovewith respect to stages 230-270 of FIG. 2, consistent with the presentinvention. Location module 172 may first determine whether a customer isat or near a merchant location (stage 330). As described above, locationmodule 172 and/or monitoring module 176 may, alone or in combinationwith other software, monitor the customer through any one of thelocation based services described above and determine the location ofthe customer. Monitoring module 176 may then determine whether acustomer is a rewards member (stage 332). A rewards member is a customerthat may be eligible for certain rewards based on the amount of purchasetransactions or other types of transactions made using the account. Forexample, a rewards member may have to spend $5000 a month in order toget a free product. If a customer is a rewards member, monitoring module176 may monitor the customer's transactions to determine that thecustomer is at or near a reward threshold level (stage 333). Forexample, monitoring module 176 may determine that the customer's accounthas accumulated $4900 in purchase transactions, and that the rewardthreshold is $5000. Issuer system 140 may offer the customer a rewardincentive that would allow the customer to reach the award thresholdcontingent upon a purchase at the merchant (stage 334). Solicitationmodule 178 may send the offer to the customer in any one of the methodsdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2. For example, the rewardincentive may be a coupon stating if the customer makes a purchase of atleast $50, issuer system 140 may credit the customer's rewards accountfor double the amount spent. For example, if the customer purchased anitem for $50, issuer system 140 may credit the customer's rewardsaccount for $100, which will then allow the customer to reach the awardredemption threshold of $5000. The customer may accept the offer and usethe reward incentive (stages 336 and 338). Issuer system 140 may chargethe customer's account for the product purchased (stage 339).

FIG. 3D is a flowchart illustrating a fourth exemplary process fordetermining an opportunity to make a customer offer, as described abovewith respect to stages 230-270 of FIG. 2, consistent with the presentinvention. Location module 172 may first determine whether a customer isat or near a merchant location that issuer system 140 may correlate to apredetermined product (stage 340). As described above, location module172 and/or monitoring module 176 may, alone or in combination with othersoftware, monitor the customer through any one of the location basedservices described above and determine the location of the customer.

Once issuer system 140 determines a customer is at or near a merchantlocation, system 140 may then determine whether the merchant may becorrelated to the predetermined product. In this regard, system 140 maydetermine that customer segments for certain products are correlated tocustomer segments for certain merchants. For example, issuer system 140may correlate a home improvement store to a home equity loan or a newhome mortgage. These merchant-product correlations may be stored indatabase tables 180. Monitoring module 176 may then determine whetherthe customer is eligible for the product correlated to the merchant(stage 342). Module 176 may determine the customer is eligible based onvarious aspects of the customer's account. For example, module 176 maydetermine from the customer's data in database tables 180 that thecustomer does not currently have a home loan and the customer's salaryand credit history indicate the customer is eligible for the loan.Issuer system 140 may then offer the customer the product contingentupon the customer making a purchase at the merchant (stage 344). Issuersystem 140 may set an expiration date on the offer, such as that thecustomer may have one week to use the offer. One skilled in the artwould appreciate that issuer system 140 may offer other correlatedproducts and the present invention is not limited to the above examples.Solicitation module 178 may send the offer to the customer in any one ofthe methods described above with respect to FIG. 2.

After solicitation module 178 sends the offer, the customer may thenaccept the offer in any one of the ways described above with respect tostage FIG. 2 (stage 346). For example, if the message was sent bysolicitation module 178 as a text message to the customer's cellularphone, the customer may accept the offer by sending a text message backto issuer system 140. The customer may also accept the terms of theoffer by making the purchase specified in the offer. Issuer system 140may then send to the customer terms and conditions for the offer, eithervia the same route that the offer was initially sent (stage 250) orthrough other means such as direct mail (stage 348). Terms andconditions for the offer may be, for example, specific terms andconditions of a home mortgage loan. Issuer system 140 may then chargethe customer's account for the purchase at the merchant (stage 349).

While FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate exemplary processes for determining anopportunity to make a customer offer, issuer systems 140 consistent withthe invention may send offers in other scenarios as well. For example,systems consistent with the invention allow issuer 140 to send offers inreal-time. Based on customer behavior (e.g. whether a customer makes aspecific purchase or reaches a reward redemption threshold), thecustomer is issued a coupon, credit, or reward in “real-time” on thepersonal computing device 150. For example, a real-time coupon mayinclude a discount code displayed on the personal computing device 150which can be entered into the merchant's system and may only be validfor a few minutes. Further, systems consistent with the invention maysend one or more offers to a customer at the same time to the samecomputing device 150, or to multiple computing devices 150 a-150 b.

The foregoing description of possible implementations consistent withthe present invention does not represent a comprehensive list of allsuch implementations or all variations of the implementations described.The description of only some implementations should not be construed asan intent to exclude other implementations. One of ordinary skill in theart will understand how to implement the invention in the appendedclaims in may other ways, using equivalents and alternatives that do notdepart from the scope of the following claims.

The systems and methods disclosed herein may be embodied in variousforms including, for example, a data processor, such as a computer thatalso includes a database. Moreover, the above-noted features and otheraspects and principles of the present invention may be implemented invarious environments. Such environments and related applications may bespecially constructed for performing the various processes andoperations according to the invention or they may include ageneral-purpose computer or computing platform selectively activated orreconfigured by code to provide the necessary functionality. Theprocesses disclosed herein are not inherently related to any particularcomputer or other apparatus, and may be implemented by a suitablecombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, variousgeneral-purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordancewith teachings of the invention, or it may be more convenient toconstruct a specialized apparatus or system to perform the requiredmethods and techniques.

Systems and methods consistent with the present invention also includecomputer readable media that include program instruction or code forperforming various computer-implemented operations based on the methodsand processes of the invention. The media and program instructions maybe those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of theinvention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to thosehaving skill in the computer software arts. Examples of programinstructions include, for example, machine code, such as produced by acompiler, and files containing a high level code that can be executed bythe computer using an interpreter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method of sending an offerto a customer of a financial account in a financial institution, themethod comprising: monitoring, by one or more processors, a location ofthe customer based on a location of a wireless computing device of thecustomer; determining, by the one or more processors, that the customeris located near one or more merchants based on the monitored location ofthe customer; monitoring, by the one or more processors, a status of thefinancial account of the customer; determining, by the one or moreprocessors, that the customer is a rewards member associated with thefinancial account; providing, by the one or more processors, one or morefirst rewards for purchases made using the financial account;determining, by the one or more processors, that the financial accounthas a rewards level within a proximity of a reward redemption thresholdlevel; generating, by the one or more processors, an offer associatedwith at least one product of the one or more merchants located near themonitored location of the customer allowing the customer to reach therewards redemption threshold level by crediting the financial accountfor a second reward, wherein the one or more first rewards would notcause the customer to reach the rewards redemption threshold level;sending the offer to the customer via the customer's wireless computingdevice based on the determination that the financial account has therewards level within the proximity of the reward redemption thresholdlevel; and providing the second reward to the customer based upon anindication that the customer purchased a product associated with theoffer at the one or more merchants using the financial account.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the status of the financialaccount further comprises: collecting customer data about the customer,wherein the customer data comprises financial data and personal data. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising: charging the financialaccount based on the customer accepting the offer.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein the personal data comprises demographic data.
 5. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the financial data comprises data about thecustomer's financial account, including data about other financialaccounts of the customer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer isassociated with at least one of a discount, credit offering, insuranceoffering, lending product, loan product, financial service, brokerageservice, banking product, revolving credit product, secured debtproduct, and an annuity.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wirelesscomputing device is at least one of a personal digital assistant, a textmessaging device, an instant messaging device, a video messaging device,an audio messaging device, a wireless access device, a wearablecomputer, and a tablet computer.
 8. The method of claim 2, wherein thecollecting customer data further comprises: collecting financial dataabout the customer from a financial institution, other financialinstitutions, and credit bureaus; and collecting personal data about thecustomer from the financial institution and from sources outside of thefinancial institution.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining whether a credit of the financial account is near a creditlimit; and wherein the sending the offer includes offering the customeran increase in the credit limit based on the determining whether thecustomer is near the credit limit and contingent upon the customermaking the purchase at the one or more merchants.
 10. The method ofclaim 9, further comprising: determining whether the customer makes thepurchase; and increasing the credit limit based on the determination ofwhether the customer makes the purchase.
 11. The method of claim 1,wherein the determining that the customer is located near the one ormore merchants is based on a determination that the customer is within apredetermined distance from the one or more merchants.
 12. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the determination that the credit of the financialaccount is near the credit limit is based on a determination that anamount of available credit is less than a predetermined amount.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the monitoring the location of the customerfurther comprises: determining that the customer is near a particularmerchant or a particular competitor of the particular merchant.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the determining whether to send the offerfurther comprises: identifying a shopping pattern of the customer withrespect to the particular merchant; and offering the customer a couponto purchase at the particular merchant based on the identified shoppingpattern.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: determiningwhether the customer uses the coupon; and charging the financial accountbased on the determination of whether the customer uses the coupon. 16.The method of claim 13, wherein the determination that the customer isnear the particular merchant or the competitor is based on adetermination that the customer is within a predetermined distance fromthe particular merchant or from the competitor.
 17. The method of claim1, wherein the financial account allows the customer to receive rewardsbased on an amount of purchase transactions meeting an award threshold;and wherein the sending the offer includes offering the customer areward incentive product to make a purchase at a particular merchantcontingent upon the customer making a purchase at the particularmerchant.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: determiningwhether the customer used the reward incentive product; and charging thefinancial account based on the determining whether the customer used thereward incentive product.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the rewardincentive product includes at least a coupon for a discount at theparticular merchant.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the rewardincentive product is one of a digital coupon, a price discount, or a buyone get one free discount.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein the one ormore merchants are correlated to a predetermined product for offering tocustomers of the one or more merchants.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein the determining whether to send the offer further comprises:determining whether the customer is eligible for the predeterminedproduct; and offering the customer the predetermined product contingentupon the customer making a purchase at the one or more merchants. 23.The method of claim 22, further comprising: determining whether thecustomer makes the purchase; and sending the customer the predeterminedproduct based on a determination that the customer made the purchase.24. The method of claim 21, wherein the determination that the customeris near the one or more merchants is based on a determination that thecustomer is within a predetermined distance from the one or moremerchants.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the offerfurther comprises: sending the offer as a text message, an email, apage, or a voice mail to the customer's wireless computing device. 26.The method of claim 1, further comprising: registering the customer fora service to receive the offer via the wireless computing device.
 27. Asystem of sending an offer to a customer of a financial account in afinancial institution, the system comprising: a processor; and a memory,wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:monitoring a location of the customer based on a location of a wirelesscomputing device of the customer; determining that the customer islocated near one or more merchants based on the monitored location ofthe customer; monitoring a status of the financial account of thecustomer; determining that the customer is a rewards member associatedwith the financial account; providing one or more first rewards forpurchases made using the financial account; determining that thefinancial account has a rewards level within a proximity of a rewardredemption threshold level; generating an offer associated with at leastone product of the one or more merchants located near the monitoredlocation of the customer allowing the customer to reach the rewardsredemption threshold level by crediting the financial account for asecond reward, wherein the one or more first rewards would not cause thecustomer to reach the rewards redemption threshold level; sending theoffer to the customer via the customer's wireless computing device basedon the determination that the financial account has the rewards levelwithin the proximity of the reward redemption threshold level; andproviding the second reward to the customer based upon an indicationthat the customer purchased a product associated with the offer at theone or more merchants using the financial account.
 28. The system ofclaim 27, wherein the monitoring the status of the financial accountfurther comprises: collecting customer data about the customer, whereinthe customer data comprises financial data and personal data.
 29. Thesystem of claim 27, the operations further comprising: charging thefinancial account based on the customer accepting the offer.
 30. Thesystem of claim 28, wherein the personal data comprises demographicdata.
 31. The system of claim 28, wherein the financial data comprisesdata about the customer's financial account, including data about otherfinancial accounts of the customer.
 32. The system of claim 27, whereinthe offer is associated with at least one of a discount, creditoffering, insurance offering, lending product, loan product, financialservice, brokerage service, banking product, revolving credit product,secured debt product, and an annuity.
 33. The system of claim 27,wherein the wireless computing device is at least one of a personaldigital assistant, a text messaging device, an instant messaging device,a video messaging device, an audio messaging device, a wireless accessdevice, a wearable computer, and a tablet computer.
 34. The system ofclaim 28, wherein the collecting customer data further comprises:collecting financial data about the customer from a financialinstitution, other financial institutions, and credit bureaus; andcollecting personal data about the customer from the financialinstitution and from sources outside of the financial institution. 35.The system of claim 27, further comprising: determining whether a creditof the financial account is near a credit limit; and wherein the sendingthe offer includes offering the customer an increase in the credit limitbased on the determining whether the customer is near the credit limitand contingent upon the customer making the purchase at the one or moremerchants.
 36. The system of claim 35, further comprising: determiningwhether the customer makes the purchase; and increasing the credit limitbased on the determination of whether the customer makes the purchase.37. The system of claim 27, wherein the determining that the customer islocated near the one or more merchants is based on a determination thatthe customer is within a predetermined distance from the one or moremerchants.
 38. The system of claim 35, wherein the determination thatthe credit of the financial account is near the credit limit is based ona determination that an amount of available credit is less than apredetermined amount.
 39. The system of claim 27, wherein the monitoringthe location of the customer further comprises: determining that thecustomer is near a particular merchant or a particular competitor of theparticular merchant.
 40. The system of claim 39, wherein the determiningwhether to send the offer further comprises: identifying a shoppingpattern of the customer with respect to the particular merchant; andoffering the customer a coupon to purchase at the particular merchantbased on the identified shopping pattern.
 41. The system of claim 40,the operations further comprising: determining whether the customer usesthe coupon; and charging the financial account based on thedetermination of whether the customer uses the coupon.
 42. The system ofclaim 39, wherein the determination that the customer is near theparticular merchant or the competitor is based on a determination thatthe customer is within a predetermined distance from the particularmerchant or from the competitor.
 43. The system of claim 27, wherein thefinancial account allows the customer to receive rewards based on anamount of purchase transactions meeting an award threshold; and whereinthe sending the offer comprises offering the customer a reward incentiveproduct to make a purchase at a particular merchant contingent upon thecustomer making a purchase at the particular merchant.
 44. The system ofclaim 43, the operations further comprising: determining whether thecustomer used the reward incentive product; and charging the financialaccount based on the determining whether the customer used the rewardincentive product.
 45. The system of claim 43, wherein the rewardincentive product may be a coupon for a discount at the particularmerchant.
 46. The system of claim 43, wherein the reward incentiveproduct is one of a digital coupon, a price discount, or a buy one getone free discount.
 47. The system of claim 27, wherein the one or moremerchants are correlated to a predetermined product for offering tocustomers of the one or more merchants.
 48. The system of claim 47,wherein the determining whether to send the offer further comprises:determining whether the customer is eligible for the predeterminedproduct; and offering the customer the predetermined product contingentupon the customer making a purchase at the one or more merchants. 49.The system of claim 48, the operations further comprising: determiningwhether the customer makes the purchase; and sending the customer thepredetermined product based on a determination that the customer madethe purchase.
 50. The system of claim 47, wherein the determination thatthe customer is near the one or more merchants is based on adetermination that the customer is within a predetermined distance fromthe one or more merchants.
 51. The system of claim 27, wherein thesending the offer further comprises: sending the offer as a textmessage, an email, a page, or a voice mail to the customer's wirelesscomputing device.
 52. The system of claim 27, the operations furthercomprising: registering the customer for a service to receive the offervia the wireless computing device.
 53. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing instructions for performing, whenexecuted by a processor, a method of sending an offer to a customer of afinancial account in a financial institution, the method comprising:monitoring a location of the customer based on a location of a wirelesscomputing device of the customer; determining that the customer islocated near one or more merchants based on the monitored location ofthe customer; monitoring a status of the financial account of thecustomer; determining that the customer is a rewards member associatedwith the financial account; providing one or more first rewards forpurchases made using the financial account; determining that thefinancial account has a rewards level within a proximity of a rewardredemption threshold level; generating an offer associated with at leastone product of the one or more merchants located near the monitoredlocation of the customer allowing the customer to reach the rewardsredemption threshold level by crediting the financial account for asecond reward, wherein the one or more first rewards would not cause thecustomer to reach the rewards redemption threshold level; sending theoffer to the customer via the customer's wireless computing device basedon the determination that the financial account has the rewards levelwithin the proximity of the reward redemption threshold level; andproviding the second reward to the customer based upon an indicationthat the customer purchased a product associated with the offer at theone or more merchants using the financial account.
 54. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the monitoring the statusof the financial account further comprises: collecting customer dataabout the customer, wherein the customer data comprises financial dataand personal data.
 55. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, furthercomprising: charging the financial account based on the customeraccepting the offer.
 56. The computer-readable medium of claim 54,wherein the personal data comprises demographic data.
 57. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the financial datacomprises data about the customer's financial account, including dataabout other financial accounts of the customer.
 58. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the offer is associatedwith at least one of a discount, credit offering, insurance offering,lending product, loan product, financial service, brokerage service,banking product, revolving credit product, secured debt product, and anannuity.
 59. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein thewireless computing device is at least one of a personal digitalassistant, a text messaging device, an instant messaging device, a videomessaging device, an audio messaging device, a wireless access device, awearable computer, and a tablet computer.
 60. The computer-readablemedium of claim 54, wherein the collecting customer data furthercomprises: collecting financial data about the customer from a financialinstitution, other financial institutions, and credit bureaus; andcollecting personal data about the customer from the financialinstitution and from sources outside of the financial institution. 61.The computer-readable medium of claim 53, further comprising:determining whether a credit of the financial account is near a creditlimit; and wherein the sending the offer includes offering the customeran increase in the credit limit based on the determining whether thecustomer is near the credit limit and contingent upon the customermaking the purchase at the one or more merchants.
 62. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 61, further comprising: determiningwhether the customer makes the purchase; and increasing the credit limitbased on the determination of whether the customer makes the purchase.63. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the determiningthat the customer is located near the one or more merchants is based ona determination that the customer is within a predetermined distancefrom the one or more merchants.
 64. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 61, wherein the determination that the credit of the financialaccount is near the credit limit is based on a determination that anamount of available credit is less than a predetermined amount.
 65. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein the monitoring thelocation of the customer further comprises: determining that thecustomer is near a particular merchant or a particular competitor of theparticular merchant.
 66. The computer-readable medium of claim 65,wherein the determining whether to send the offer further comprises:identifying a shopping pattern of the customer with respect to theparticular merchant; and offering the customer a coupon to purchase atthe particular merchant based on the identified shopping pattern. 67.The computer-readable medium of claim 66, further comprising:determining whether the customer uses the coupon; and charging thefinancial account based on the determination of whether the customeruses the coupon.
 68. The computer-readable medium of claim 65, whereinthe determination that the customer is near the particular merchant orthe competitor is based on determination that the customer is within apredetermined distance from the particular merchant or from thecompetitor.
 69. The computer-readable medium of claim 53, wherein thefinancial account allows the customer to receive rewards based on anamount of purchase transactions meeting an award threshold; and whereinthe sending the offer comprises offering the customer a reward incentiveproduct to make a purchase at a particular merchant contingent upon thecustomer making a purchase at the particular merchant.
 70. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 69, further comprising: determiningwhether the customer used the reward incentive product; and charging thefinancial account based on the determining whether the customer used thereward incentive product.
 71. The computer-readable medium of claim 69,wherein the reward incentive product may be a coupon for a discount atthe particular merchant.
 72. The computer-readable medium of claim 69,wherein the reward incentive product is one of a digital coupon, a pricediscount, or a buy one get one free discount.
 73. The computer-readablemedium of claim 53, wherein the one or more merchants are correlated toa predetermined product for offering to customers of the one or moremerchants.
 74. The computer-readable medium of claim 73, wherein thedetermining whether to send the offer further comprises: determiningwhether the customer is eligible for the predetermined product; andoffering the customer the predetermined product contingent upon thecustomer making a purchase at the one or more merchants.
 75. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 74, further comprising: determiningwhether the customer makes the purchase; and sending the customer thepredetermined product based on a determination that the customer madethe purchase.
 76. The computer-readable medium of claim 73, wherein thedetermination that the customer is near the one or more merchants isbased on a determination that the customer is within a predetermineddistance from the one or more merchants.
 77. The computer-readablemedium of claim 53, wherein the sending the offer further comprises:sending the offer as a text message, an email, a page, or a voice mailto the customer's wireless computing device.
 78. The computer-readablemedium of claim 53, further comprising: registering the customer for aservice to receive the offer via the wireless computing device.